Team India captain Virat Kohli was presented with the International Player of the Year award for 2017-2018 by England’s Barmy Army as India concluded Day 1 of the practice match against Essex on Wednesday.
Barmy Army is a popular fan club of England cricket supporters who had last year shared a video of Kohli.
The fan club this year went ahead and presented him with the award. The BCCI, on its Twitter account, has shared the picture of the Indian skipper holding the award and said, “The @TheBarmyArmy presents #TeamIndia Captain @imVkohli with the International Player of the Year for years 2017 and 2018.”
Say cheese 📸📸
The @TheBarmyArmy presents #TeamIndia Captain @imVkohli with the International Player of the Year for years 2017 and 2018. pic.twitter.com/sr0Z7TkDYv
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 25, 2018
In 2018, Kohli played a total of 19 matches across all formats and has scored 1181 runs with an average of 65.61. He has scored four hundreds and four half-centuries.
Earlier this year, Kohli had a sensational tour of South Africa, where he scored 871 runs across formats. In the ODIs, he scored 558 runs including three hundreds.
He was then once again among the runs in the three-match ODI series in England – Kohli made a fluent 75 in the first match which India won at Old Trafford before scoring 45 in the second ODI at Lord’s.
During the third ODI, Kohli became the fastest to 3000 ODI runs as captain, taking just 49 innings to get to the mark.
Incidentally, Kohli was also the fastest to 1000 and 2000 ODI runs as captain.
Last year, when Barmy Army had honoured him with the award, Kohli had thanked them on a video saying being recognized by a group as passionate as they felt great.
ICYMI #Barmies2017 International Player of the Year – the brilliant @imVkohli. Thanks for being a great sport & thanks @BCCI @goransaxena 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/sMFhAW2Lxg
— England's Barmy Army 🏴🎺 (@TheBarmyArmy) August 19, 2017
“I am really honoured to be chosen by the Barmy Army as the international player of the year. It feels nice to be recognised by the fans of other countries and cricket lovers from all over the globe which makes you feel great as a cricketer. Specially from the Barmy Army who made my life hell in England in 2014 when I had a tough time.
“They always support their team very passionately and I am sure it will be a challenge when we go to England. But to have received such an honour from them makes me feel proud of playing for my nation. I want to thank you all once again from the bottom of my heart and look forward to catching up with all of you when we come to England next year. Hopefully, we can have some interaction of the field also, cheers thank you,” Kohli said.
